The Leap
by not-kutcher
Summary: Chat has had enough of the secrets. He wants to know who the love his life really was behind the mask. But was it the right choice? *this was inspired by fanart on tumblr*
1. Chapter 1

"Wait!" Chat yelled as he grabbed for Ladybug's arm before she could dash off. "Aren't you tired of all this?"

Ladybug looked up at him a bit confused. "What are you talking about Chat?"

"This! The constant running off right after a battle, the secrets of who we are, all of it!" If Ladybug wasn't going mad over the secrets, Chat Noir surely was. He would constantly wonder who his partner really was that it would sometimes keep him up at night. He wanted to know who this girl who has stolen his heart and been his biggest supporter really was behind the red and black polka-dot mask.

Ladybug was scared and confused about what had come over her partner. "Chat we talked about this." She spoke out, upset that her voice wasn't as steady as she would like it to be. They both only had less than three minutes left of their transformation and Ladybug was not ready for what Chat was asking her to do. "Please let me go."

Chat looked at his grip on her wrist, knowing that he should let her go to respect her wishes. But his desperation kept him from doing so. "What if we already know each other?"

"What if we don't?" Ladybug said as she looked down so she couldn't see the expression on Chat's face.

"Then we get to know each other better. Please, don't you want to know too?" Chat pleaded as he knelt down slightly to look in her eyes.

"Chat, we already talked about this." Ladybug repeated. She then heard her earrings and then Chat's ring beep. Two minutes left now. "Please let me go."

"But I love you." Chat blurted out suddenly when Ladybug tried to pull away. "I've loved you ever since I first met you and I'm going insane just wondering who you are. I want to be able to be with you with and without the mask on."

This was news to her. Ladybug had always just thought Chat's flirting was part of his personality and a way to tease her. She tried to think of a new way of handling this situation since true feelings were involved. "I, I didn't know that." Every possible response she thought of didn't seem to exactly work out when she played them in her head, but she knew she had to handle this lightly. "Look Chat, I'm flattered, but… I already have someone I like and-."

"I don't care about that." Chat interrupted. It did hurt a bit when he heard her say that and he did care, but knowing the truth was more important to him than anything else at the moment. "I'll be fine if we're just friends. It's just I'm tired of the secrets and I know I can't be the only one."

Ladybug thought for a moment. "I do wonder now and then, but then I remember that we agreed to keep our real identities a secret."

"I know you really care about that, but we've known each other for over a year now. I don't know if I can wonder any longer."

Both their miraculous jewels beeped again. One minute.

"I'm sorry you feel this way, but I just…" The words couldn't come to her and her mind eventually went blank.

"You just what?" Chat asked after waiting for her to continue.

Ladybug tried to think of something to say, but nothing came to her. "I don't know." She has no idea what to feel anymore. Part of her wanted to run, and another part wanted to see how this ended. But all in all, she was completely scared of whatever she decided to do in the end.

Chat could feel his partner tremble a bit. He looked into her eyes again. "I'm scared too." He didn't know how this was going to turn out either, but he was ready to take the leap and willing to support the amazing girl in front of him through all her worries.

Ladybug thought for a moment and finally found what she was truly afraid of. "I don't want to ruin what we already have."

"Me either, but I'm willing to work through any issues we have after this." Chat let go of Ladybug's wrist and let it drop to her side. "But, I'll let you choose whether you want to take the leap or not."

Now was her chance to run and hide before her time ran out. Then why weren't her legs moving. Maybe she was ready to finally do this, or at least happy that he was offering to help her though whatever happens. Either way, her miraculous gave its final signal and it was too late to go back.


	2. Chapter 2

**"Ok... First day at school after the reveal. Marinette's and Adrien's reaction. :O" Someone asked, so I used it as a means to continue.**

 **::::**

 _Why is he early? He's never early!_

Marinette wanted to skip school today, but she knew her parent's wouldn't let that happen. But she wasn't ready to face him. She wasn't ready to face Adrien. Not after what had happened the day before. She was still wondering why she let the truth finally come out and let her miraculous run out right in front of him. And the shock of him really being Chat Noir was still being procced in her mind. Nothing seemed to make since anymore.

"Marinette you can't hide forever you know. You need to go to class." Tikki spoke out from Marinette's purse.

"I know, but I was hoping to beat him here so I could sneak in and leave no time for us to possibly run into each other or for him to catch me." Marinette said as she looked around the corner of her hiding place and saw that Adrien was still standing at the front of the steps, looking around for most likely her. The revel was a huge shock for her. Which means that her shock and running away had to be what he wanted to talk to her about. "I don't know if I can even face him after all this."

"I'm sure you can. After you two talk." Tikki suggested.

"But what if an akuma attacks before we can?" Marinette asked after the thought rushed to her mind. She didn't want to ruin what they already had as partners and now that partnership might already be ruined because of a stupid impulse both she and Adrien gave in to.

"I'm sure everything will work itself out Marinette." Tikki suggested as she floated out of the purse and touched Marinette's cheek. The bell that announced the beginning of the school day rang out. "You have to go." Tikki reminded as she went back into Marinette's purse.

Marinette stayed in her spot for a bit before looking back around the corner. Adrien had a worried look on his face. He looked back at Nino, who was calling him inside, and then at his surrounding again before giving up and going inside the building with his friend.

The rest of school day Marinette was too nervous and too focused on what to do that she couldn't pay attention to anything her teachers said during their lectures. She made she sure she was always the last to enter and first to the leave the classrooms and spent most of the class's breaks hiding in the bathroom. Now it was minutes till the end of the day and she was busy thinking about how she was going to leave before the boy sitting in front of her got a chance to stop her. She could just hurry out of the room and hide in a bathroom till everyone is gone, but she knew he didn't have any after school activities today and could just sit and wait for her. Also, there was Alya, who usually stopped her at the end of each class to chat, and since she's been avoiding her as well, Marinette knew that Alya would definitely try to stop her and ask what was wrong with her. Then a clear way out finally hit her mind.

Towards the end of the teacher's lecture, Marinette threw her hand up in the air. "Yes, Marinette?"

"Um, may I be excused? I need to use the bathroom." Marinette said as innocently as she could. In truth, she was going to use this to leave before anyone else and make it home before anyone could stop her.

The teacher raised an eyebrow at her and then looked over at the clock in the room. "Class is almost over. I'm sure you can hold it till then."

"But," Marinette spoke out in a slight panic. She quickly calmed her nerves once she noticed how desperate she sounded. "It's an emergency." She tried again, hoping the teacher would take a hint and let her leave.

The teacher let out a frustrated sigh, realizing the underlined meaning in Marinette's please. "Fine, but be sure to ask someone for the homework assignment."

"Thank you." Marinette thanked as she gathered her things and rushed out of the room, ignoring all the eyes on her now and the slight embarrassment she should feel for what everyone was most likely thinking about her.

"Marinette, how long do you think you can keep this up?" Tikki asked as she popped her head out of Marinette's purse again as she walked down the stairs.

"Until I'm ready to talk about to Adrien about it. Now is not the time." Marinette answered calmly as she made her way to the front entrance of the school and started to walk home.


	3. Chapter 3

**"Wow, just wow. That 'day after reveal' chapter/drabble/idk is purely excellent. I adore these kind of stories and this one takes the cake. Do you maybe plan to continue it? I could give anything to know what happens next and how their first meeting after the reveal would go. And your writing style is really clean and easy to read. Do you have a fanfiction or ao3 acc? I'm just lazy to look for info on the blog... :P" Someone asked again, so I continued again! :p**

 **::::**

 _Marinette Dupain-Cheng_

 _06-XX-XX-XX-XX_

Adrien just kept staring at her picture and contact information. It felt like the screen was taunting him now. Teasing him to call her right now and demand for answers, but he knew that wasn't the best idea. Bringing Adrien back to square one.

"Just call her already." Plagg whined as he let himself fall on Adrien's bed, right next to his phone. "You've been staring at her number ever since you came home, so just do it and feed me!"

"But I can't just call her!" Adrien snapped, his nerves at the highest they've ever been. "You didn't see how she was today." At first Adrien thought she was just going to skip school that, but that changed when she ran in the classroom right before the teacher. He kept telling himself that it was a coincidence. She was just running late and that she wanted to talk to him about what happened the day before just as much as he did. But then she started to be the first one to leave and last to enter the classrooms, hide during their breaks, and stay as far away as she could from him. Marinette was obviously avoiding him.

"I saw some of it. Nothing seems out of the ordinary to me." Plagg said as he sat up and picked up Adrien's phone. "Look kid, if her actions bother you that much, then just call her. Or least answer back all the text that Nino sent you." Plagg said as he held out the phone to Adrien.

Adrien mentally agreed with the little kwami and took the phone. "Yeah, I think I worried him a bit today."

He then looked down at the phone to start reading the messages that Nino had sent him, but instead was greeted with Marinette's number being dialed. His nerves practically hit the roof when he said the call timer start. "Plagg!"

"If you hang up, I'll go and talk to Marinette myself tomorrow at school!" Plagg threaten, completely done with Adrien current mood even though he was the one who put him and Marinette in this whole mess to begin with.

"But Plagg you can't just-!"

"Hello?" A voice greeted on the other end of the line. It wasn't Marinette's.

Adrien froze. _Hang up. Hang up! HANG UP!_ He looked at Plagg, his big greens eyes giving off a threatening look. "Um, hi. Is this Marinette?" Why did he ask that? He knew it wasn't Marinette.

"No I'm sorry, this is her mother. Marinette it a bit busy right now helping in the bakery. I'll get her for you." Sabine said cheerfully on the other end.

"Oh, wait! No-." It was no use. Sabine was already calling for Marinette to answer the phone call.

"Hello?" Marinette answered. She obviously didn't look at the caller ID.

Adrien was tongue tied and didn't know what to do. _Just say hi. See if she's ok. Just say something._ "Um, hey." He choked out, worried about what she was going to do.

"Adrien?!" Marinette practically screamed out, obviously shocked. "Uh, um, I'm sorry! I can't talk right now! We're really busy at the bakery and-!"

"Then when can you talk?" Adrien asked, a spark of confidence and bravery coming out of nowhere. "You avoided me all day today at school. Is me turning out to be Chat Noir really that much of an issue for you?" _Did that sound too harsh?_ He didn't want to make Marinette feel guilty for her actions. This was a big deal for both of them.

"No, it's not an issue." Marinette responded a bit more calmly. "I'm just still processing everything."

The bravery inside Adrien instantly melted away. "Sorry, I shouldn't have done this. I really messed everything up didn't I?"

"No you didn't." Marinette responded, sounding a bit shocked to hear him say that. "We're still friends and partners. I was just taken back a bit when I realized that you had this whole other side to you that no one knows about but me."

"Is that a bad thing?" Adrien asked. He loved Ladybug, and after finding out that she was Marinette, he still loved her and didn't want to disappoint her. What if Marinette didn't like how he really would like to act? What if she only liked the him that everyone already knew?

"No it's not a bad thing." Marinette answered.

A weight lifted off Adrien's shoulders. "Really?" Maybe Plagg dialing Marinette's number wasn't such a bad thing. "So we're still friends? Or partners?"

"Didn't I already say we were?" Marinette asked, sounding a bit more like her superhero self.

Adrien smiled. Everything was alright with only a few things to maybe work out. "Then, can we eat lunch together tomorrow? To talk? Or, just to hang out?"

Marinette was quiet for a moment. Maybe he rushed this a bit. Maybe she wasn't really ready to face him and was still processing everything. Of course he would be ready to settle everything since he was the one to initiate the reveal. "Sure." Marinette finally spoke out. "But I can't guarantee it'll be just you and me."

"That's fine." Adrien said excitingly. Just knowing that she wouldn't avoid him again was more than enough to make him happy. "I'll see you then!"

"See you." Marinette said before ending the call.

Adrien fell back on his bed. All the worry and guilt lifted off him in an instant. "Plagg." He called out to the little kwami. "Thanks."

"Yeah, yeah. Now give me some Camembert." Plagg called back, demanding for his reward.


End file.
